types of speech context and their meaning

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Speech Context Meaning, Different Types, and Examples

What is speech context meaning and its different types..

SPEECH CONTEXT MEANING – Defining speech context and determining the different types of speech context with examples.

Communication does not only happens between two people. It can be between a person and a group or two groups of people exchanging ideas and thoughts. And speech context is about where the communication happens and how is the message relayed in the whole communication process.

Here are the types of speech context:

• Intrapersonal The communication that happens within oneself. This appears that the source and the receiver of the message is the speaker himself. Often times, this is done when a person does self-reflection and analyzing his own feelings and thoughts. This is also one way in assessing yourself. Example: When choosing what course in college you would want to take. Before coming up with a decision, you’d have to assess your interests, talents, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Interpersonal The communication happens between two or more persons. Depending on the relationship of these people, the communication can be formal, casual, informal, or intimate. 2 types of interpersonal communication: – dyad communication that happens between two people. Example: You and your doctor during consultation. – small group where three or more people are involved but not over 12. Example: You and your groupmates in research sharing ideas.
• Public Communication This happens when a person delivers a message or talks in front of bigger number of people or listeners. Example: A politician presenting his platforms in a grand rally.
• Mass Communication This happens when television, social media, newspaper, magazines, and the likes were used as channels to relay the message. Example: A weatherman discussing the path of the strong typhoon in television.
• Who Am I As Person – A Sample Essay Of “Who Am I As A Person”
• Lie Versus Lay – Grammar Rules and Proper Uses Of “Lie” and “Lay”

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1 Introduction to the Public Speaking Context

Learning objectives.

• Identify the three components of getting your message across to others.
• Describe elements in the transactional model of communication.

Communication is a Process

Communication is a process, not a singular event. A basic definition of communication is “sharing meaning between two or more people.” By definition of a process, we must take a series of actions or steps in order to reach a defined end goal. When we follow this process, we carefully consider how to best present information to reach our goals in a given context. When we do not follow the process, we leave our speaking success up to chance.

How do you get your message heard?

We live in a world with a lot of noise. Getting your message heard above others depends on three fundamental components: message, skill, and passion .

Message: When what you are saying is clear and coherent, people are more likely to pay attention to it. On the other hand, when a message is ambiguous, people will often stop paying attention. Working through the speechmaking process in the next chapter will help us to create clear and coherent messages.

Effective communication skills:  You may have the best ideas in the world, but if you do not possess the skills to communicate those ideas effectively, you’re going to have a problem getting anyone to listen. In this book, we will address the skills you must possess to effectively communicate your ideas to others.

Passion: One mistake that novice public speakers make is picking topics in which they have no emotional investment. If you are not interested in your message, you cannot expect others to be. Passion is the extra spark that draws people’s attention and makes them want to listen to your message. Your audience can tell if you don’t really care about your topic, and they will just tune you out. We will explore how to choose topics in the next chapter.

Public Speaking Elements

Most who study the speech communication process agree that there are several critical components present in nearly every speech. Understanding these elements can provide us with information that will help us to navigate any speaking context successfully.

All communication is a process composed of certain necessary elements:

• Senders (encoders)
• Receivers (decoders)
• feedback; and

With all these elements working together, the act of communication can be very complex. Let’s examine each element.

Sender: The sender creates a message through the process of encoding. Encoding entails putting thoughts and feelings into words or other symbols to share with the audience.

Receiver: The receiver decodes by listening and understanding those words and symbols and making meaning of them personally.

Context : There are four major types of context happening simultaneously in any communication act.

• Historical: What has gone on between the sender(s) and receiver(s) before the speech. The historical elements can be positive or negative, recent or further back in time. These contexts can influence the speaker’s credibility with the audience, as well as their understanding.
• Cultural: This may be ethnic, racial, religious, and/or regional cultures or co-cultures. Culture is defined (Floyd, 2017) as “the system of learned and shared symbols, language, values, and norms that distinguish one group of people from another.”
• Social: The kind of relationship the sender(s) and receiver(s) are involved in, such as teacher-student, co-workers, employer-employee, or members of the same civic organization, faith, profession, or community.
• Physical: Where the communication is taking place and the attributes of that location. The physical context can have cultural meaning (a famous shrine or monument) that influences the form and purpose of the communication or attributes that influence audience attention (temperature, seating arrangements, or external noise).

Message: Messages are the content of what you are communicating. They may be informal and spontaneous, such as small talk, or formal, intentional, and planned, such as a commencement address. In public speaking, we focus on the creation of formal and deliberate messages.

Channel: The channel is the means through which the message travels. In face-to-face communication the channel involves all of our senses, so the channel is what we see, hear, touch, smell and perhaps what we taste. When we’re communicating with someone online, the channel is the computer; when texting the channel is the cell phone; and when watching a movie on cable, the channel is the TV.

Noise: Noise refers to anything that interferes with message transmission or reception (i.e., getting the image from your head into others’ heads). There are four types of noise.

• Physiological noise : Physiological processes and states that interfere with a message. For instance, if a speaker has a headache or the flu, or if audience members are hot or they’re hungry, these conditions may interfere with message accuracy.
• Psychological noise: This refers to the mental states or emotional states that impede message transmission or reception. For example, audience members may be thinking about what they want to eat for lunch, or about a date they had last night. Or a speaker may be anxious about the speech.
• Physical noise : This is the actual sound level in a room. There may be noise from the air conditioner or the projector. Or maybe the person next to you clicking their pen.
• Cultural: Message interference that results from differences in people’s worldviews is cultural noise. The greater the difference in worldview, the more difficult it is to understand one another and communicate effectively.

Feedback: This is the message sent from the receiver back to the sender. Feedback in public speaking is usually nonverbal, such as head movement, facial expressions, laughter, eye contact, posture, and other behaviors that we use to judge audience involvement, understanding, and approval. These types of feedback can be positive (nodding, sitting up, leaning forward, smiling) or less than positive (tapping fingers, fidgeting, lack of eye contact, checking devices). There are times when verbal feedback from the audience is appropriate. You may stop and entertain questions about your content, or the audience may fill out a comment card at the end of the speech.

Outcome: The outcome is the result of the public speaking situation. For example, if you ask an audience to consider becoming bone marrow donors, there are certain outcomes. They will either have more information about the subject and feel more informed; they will disagree with you; they will take in the information but do nothing about the topic; and/or they will decide it’s a good idea to become a donor and go through the steps to do so. If they become potential donors, they will add to the pool of existing donors and perhaps save a life. Thus, either they have changed or the social context has changed, or both.

Now that we have looked at the process of communication, let’s apply it to public speaking. The speaker originates and creates a structured message and sends it through the visual/oral channel using symbols and nonverbal means to the audience members as a group, who provide (mostly nonverbal) feedback. The speaker and audience may or may not be aware of the types of interference or noise that exist, and the speaker may try to deal with them. As a result of public speaking, the audience’s minds, emotions, and/or actions are affected.

The Transactional Model of Public Speaking

The transactional model of communication illustrates the elements in public speaking visually so we can understand how meaning is co-crated. Transactional communication means that there is a continuous and simultaneous exchange of information between people. The process of encoding and decoding is an important consideration because it takes into account misunderstandings. How often have you had a message that you thought you shared effectively only for the receiving party to completely misinterpret your meaning? Although interpreting a speaker’s message may sound easy in theory, in practice many problems can arise. A speaker’s verbal message, nonverbal communication, and mediated presentation aids can make a message either clearer or harder to understand. For example, unfamiliar vocabulary, speaking too fast or too softly, or small print on presentation aids may make it difficult for you to figure out what the speaker means. Conversely, by providing definitions of complex terms, using well-timed gestures, or displaying graphs of quantitative information, the speaker can help you interpret his or her meaning. Once you have interpreted what the speaker is communicating, you then evaluate the message. Was it good? Do you agree or disagree with the speaker? Is a speaker’s argument logical? These are all questions that you may ask yourself when listening to a speech.

The idea that meanings are cocreated between people is based on a concept called the “field of experience.” According to West and Turner, a field of experience involves “how a person’s culture, experiences, and heredity influence his or her ability to communicate with another” (West & Turner, 2010). Our education, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, personality, beliefs, actions, attitudes, languages, social status, past experiences, and customs are all aspects of our field of experience, which we bring to every interaction. For meaning to occur, we must have some shared experiences with our audience; this makes it challenging to speak effectively to audiences with very different experiences from our own. Our goal as public speakers is to build upon shared fields of experience so that we can help audience members interpret our message.

Key Takeaways

• Getting your message across to others effectively requires attention to message content, skill in communicating content, and your passion for the information presented.
• The interactional models of communication provide a useful foundation for understanding communication and outline basic concepts such as sender, receiver, context noise, message, channel, feedback, and outcomes.
• Examining each public speaking situation using the elements of public speaking will help us to create more effective messages for our audience.

Arnett, R. C., & Arneson, P. (1999).  Dialogic civility in a cynical age: Community, hope, and interpersonal relationships . Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Bakhtin, M. (2001a). The problem of speech genres. (V. W. McGee, Trans., 1986). In P. Bizzell & B. Herzberg (Eds.),  The rhetorical tradition  (pp. 1227–1245). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s. (Original work published in 1953.).

Bakhtin, M. (2001b). Marxism and the philosophy of language. (L. Matejka & I. R. Titunik, Trans., 1973). In P. Bizzell & B. Herzberg (Eds.),  The rhetorical tradition  (pp. 1210–1226). Boston, MA: Medford/St. Martin’s. (Original work published in 1953).

Barnlund, D. C. (2008). A transactional model of communication. In C. D. Mortensen (Ed.),  Communication theory  (2nd ed., pp. 47–57). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

DeVito, J. A. (2009).  The interpersonal communication book  (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Geissner, H., & Slembek, E. (1986).  Miteinander sprechen und handeln  [Speak and act: Living and working together]. Frankfurt, Germany: Scriptor.

Mortenson, C. D. (1972).  Communication: The study of human communication . New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Schramm, W. (1954). How communication works. In W. Schramm (Ed.),  The process and effects of communication  (pp. 3–26). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Shannon, C. E., & Weaver, W. (1949).  The mathematical theory of communication . Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Understanding the Process of Public Speaking. (2021, February 20). https://socialsci.libretexts.org/@go/page/17728

West, R., & Turner, L. H. (2010).  Introducing communication theory: Analysis and application  (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, p. 13.

Wrench, J. S., McCroskey, J. C., & Richmond, V. P. (2008).  Human communication in everyday life: Explanations and applications . Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, p. 17.

Yakubinsky, L. P. (1997). On dialogic speech. (M. Eskin, Trans.).  PMLA ,  112 (2), 249–256. (Original work published in 1923).

Public Speaking Copyright © by Dr. Layne Goodman; Amber Green, M.A.; and Various is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Chapter 8: Pragmatics

8.11 What is a context?

In the previous section, we gave an informal description of what force operators like ASSERT and INTERR contribute to an utterance. To get a more concrete picture of what illocutionary force operators do with a proposition, it will help to think about why we have conversations in the first place. The “big” question that we are always trying to answer in a conversation is ‘what is the state of affairs in our world?’ . In a conversation, you are in a collaborative game with the other discourse participants, trying to figure out which propositions are true, and which ones are false.

We can think of this game as each “player” (discourse participants) updating the context each time they make an utterance. What is a context? You may already have a loose understanding of what a context is, and in fact, we’ve already mentioned the notion when we introduced implicatures earlier in this chapter. Informally, the context of an utterance is the state of affairs in the discourse when the utterance is made: what the topic is, who is a part of the conversation, what things have been said already, etc. More formally, we can characterise the context as a collection of sets that keep track of information in the discourse. This idea is illustrated in Figure 8.5 below.

One of these sets in the context is called the Common Ground (CG). The Common Ground is the set of propositions that all discourse participants in that conversation agree to be true. We can think of the goal of the game of discourse as increasing the common ground: to add as many propositions as possible to this set so that we have as many facts about our world as possible.

Because discourse is a collaborative game, normally, one does not simply get to add propositions to the Common Ground singlehandedly. In other words, you can’t just add a proposition to the Common Ground just because you think it’s true; you have to get the agreement of other discourse participants first. This means that there is another place (set) in the context, separate from the common ground, where this negotiation takes place. This set is called the Question Under Discussion (QUD) set . As the name suggests, the QUD set contains the questions (or topics) that are being discussed in the discourse. The QUD set is a special kind of set that is a stack. Usually, a set is just a collection of things: there is no order to the members in the set. A stack is a special kind of set that has more internal structure than a regular set. Let’s explain this metaphorically first. Think of the QUD stack as a stack of papers, where each paper has a question written on it. Every time you ask a question in a conversation, a “paper” (an issue ) gets added to this stack.

The top-most issue in the stack is the issue currently being discussed in the discourse. Sometimes the top-most issue is called the QUD , although it should be noted that the QUD stack itself is also often called “ the QUD”. F or clarity, we will call the stack the QUD stack in this textbook. Once that top-most issue has been resolved (i.e., someone answered that question), then that issue gets removed from the stack. We of course don’t mean that you literally have a stack of papers during conversations! This is just a metaphor to help you understand this theory of discourse, and to better visualise what we mean when we say that illocutionary meaning “does” something with a proposition.

Sometimes, we can’t come to an agreement in a conversation and the Common Ground doesn’t get increased. Perhaps the QUD is “Is coffee better than tea?” and the discourse participants can’t come to an agreement about it. This means that neither “Coffee is better than tea” nor “Tea is better than coffee” gets added to the CG. But of course, each participant is entitled to their own belief. This suggests that there is another kind of set that is specific to each discourse participant’s beliefs. We can call this kind of set the Discourse Commitment (DC) set of each discourse participant (sometimes also called their Public Belief set). Let’s say that there are two people having a conversation: Aya and Bo. The Discourse Commitment set of Aya is the set of propositions that Aya has publicly committed to as being true. The Discourse Commitment set of Bo is the set of propositions that Bo has publicly committed to as being true. There are as many Discourse Commitment sets as are there are discourse participants. If each Discourse Commitment set is the set of things that each discourse participant believes to be true, then the Common Ground can actually be thought of as the intersection of all of the Discourse Commitment sets in the context ( set theory strikes again!). For example, in Aya and Bo’s conversation, there are things that Aya believes to be true, and things that Bo believes to be true: call these sets DC A  and DC B  , respectively. Take the intersection of DC A  and DC B : that’s the stuff the both of them believe to be true, or the Common Ground.

In summary, the context is the collection of all of these sets that we just mentioned: the Common Ground, the QUD stack, and each discourse participant’s Discourse Commitment set.

Now we have a set of tools to talk about what illocutionary meaning is, and what we mean by you “do” something when you make an utterance. What illocutionary meaning does is take a proposition, and place it somewhere in one or more of these sets in the context: the Common Ground, the Question Under Discussion stack, or a Discourse Commitment set. The relevant question then, is where the ASSERT morpheme places a proposition in the context vs. where the INTERR morpheme places it in the context. This will be addressed in the next two sections.

Check your understanding

Farkas, D. F., & Bruce, K. B. (2010). On reacting to assertions and polar questions.  Journal of semantics ,  27 (1), 81-118.

Ginzburg, J. (1996). Dynamics and the semantics of dialogue.  Seligman, Jerry, & Westerst ahl, Dag (eds), Logic, language and computation ,  1 .

Groenendijk, J., & Stokhof, M. (1991). Dynamic predicate logic.  Linguistics and philosophy , 39-100.

Gunlogson, C. (2004).  True to form: Rising and falling declaratives as questions in English . Routledge.

Hamblin, C. L. (1971). Mathematical models of dialogue. Theoria ,  37 (2), 130-155.

Hamblin, C. L. (1973). Questions in Montague English. Foundations of Language , 10(1). 41–53.

Heim, I. (1982). The semantics of definite and indefinite noun phrases. University of Massachusetts, Amherst dissertation.

Heim, I. (2002). File change semantics and the familiarity theory of definiteness.  Formal Semantics: The Essential Readings , 223-248.

Kamp, H. (1981). A theory of truth and semantic representation. Truth, Interpretation and Information , 1–41.

Kamp, H., Genabith, J. V., & Reyle, U. (2011). Discourse Representation Theory. In Handbook of Philosophical Logic  (pp. 125-394). Springer, Dordrecht.

Roberts, C. (2012). Information structure: Towards an integrated formal theory of pragmatics.  Semantics and Pragmatics ,  5 , 6-1.

Stalnaker, R. C. (1978). Assertion. In  Pragmatics  (pp. 315-332). Brill.

Taniguchi, A. (2017).  The formal pragmatics of non-at-issue intensification in English and Japanese . Michigan State University dissertation.

Essentials of Linguistics, 2nd edition Copyright © 2022 by Catherine Anderson; Bronwyn Bjorkman; Derek Denis; Julianne Doner; Margaret Grant; Nathan Sanders; and Ai Taniguchi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Context in Communication: 10 Important Types with Examples

Context in communication refers to the environment or setting in which communication takes place, which includes elements like the participants, the physical setting, the psychological environment, and the cultural backdrop.

The context of a communication process shapes the meaning, interpretation, and effectiveness of the encoded messages transmitted between the sender and the receiver.

For example, we can use context to infer whether a phrase is literal or sarcastic, whether we should be communicating formally (e.g. in a job interview) or informally (e.g. among old friends) , and so on.

Contexts we can consider when interpreting messages can include: physical, temporal, situational, historical, socio-cultural, and social-psychological contexts. Each is explored, with examples, below.

Context in Communication

Note that many of these contexts overlap and aren’t completely different to one another.

1. Temporal Context

The concept of temporal context encompasses the timing of the message delivery and the sequence of events.

For instance, a message delivered at the wrong time might not receive the intended reaction, and can lead to misunderstanding or confusion. Just ask a comedian – timing is everything!

Likewise, understanding the chronology or sequence of communicated messages helps in deriving their contextual meaning, preserving the flow and coherence of the communication.

• Daily Briefings: Holding a morning briefing at the start of a workday sets employees up with essential information and tasks needed for that day’s operations, thus harnessing the temporal context.
• Seasonal Product Launch: A company launching a winter clothing line in autumn uses the temporal context to appeal to customers preparing for the colder season.
• Socio-political Announcements: A politician announcing campaign strategies right before election season capitalizes on the temporal context, as the timing of the announcement can garner more attention and potential voting support.

2. Social-Psychological Context

Social-psychological context refers to the climate and environment of a communication interaction shaped by interpersonal communication, relationships, status distinctions, norms, and roles.

The social status , power dynamics, and general sentiments between communicators influence their message delivery, reception, and interpretation.

Respect towards authority, friendliness between friends, adherence to societal norms and values, consideration of gender roles—all of these shape this context.

• Business Communication: The power hierarchy and professional norms affect how messages are interpreted and delivered. A CEO’s message holds different weight and interpretation than a message from an intern.
• Family Conversations: The interplay of roles (parents, children, siblings etc.) and emotions affect the communication within a family. Conversations have different dynamics based on the affection, understanding, or conflicts among family members.
• Online Platforms: In the cyber world, anonymity influences users’ behavior and responses. This new form of social-psychological context leads to distinct communication patterns like trolling, flamewars, etc.

3. Cultural Context

Cultural context refers to the shared beliefs, values, norms, and behaviors of the people within the communicating group. The dominant cultural context in the situation will impact the communication styles expected in the situation.

This context carries substantial weight because people from different cultures often carry different communication etiquettes, norms, and interpretations. Therefore, if there are multiple different cultures at play, there can often be miscommunication due to cultural differences .

Each culture have their own gestures, pauses, conversational distance, eye contact, and many more unspoken rules, which greatly vary from one culture to another.

One key distinction is between high-context and low-context cultures:

• High Context Culture : High-context culture relies heavily on implicit communication and non-verbal cues, with meaning often embedded in the social context.
• Low Context Culture : Low-context culture emphasizes explicit communication, where meaning is primarily derived from the spoken or written word.
• International Diplomacy: In international diplomacy, understanding cultural context is vital. The way one country’s diplomats greet another, symbolize respect, or argue their viewpoints all stem from their own cultural backgrounds , affecting communication outcomes.
• Multicultural Workplaces: In diverse workplaces, cultural context influences how employees interact, negotiate, and collaborate with peers from different cultural backgrounds. Misunderstandings may occur when cultural communication styles clash.
• Global Marketing: Businesses creating global marketing strategies must account for cultural differences. Advertisements must respect cultural norms and use idioms, humor, and references that resonate with the targeted audience’s culture.

4. Physical Context

Physical context refers to the actual location and environment where communication takes place, and includes the presence or absence of physical stimuli.

This type of context has a significant influence on the communication process as certain environments and surroundings can directly impact how messages are sent, received, and interpreted.

The architecture, furniture arrangement, noise levels, level of privacy, temperature, lighting: each of these aspects shape the communication environment and its dynamics.

• Business Meetings: The settings of business meetings, like a formal boardroom versus a casual coffee shop, significantly influence the group communication flow. Boardrooms might encourage more formal and structured conversations, while informal settings might foster free-flowing, creative discussions.
• Social Gatherings: The ambiance, noise level, and size of a gathering can affect interaction. A quiet intimate dinner party might facilitate deep, personal conversations, whereas a loud, crowded party might limit communication to short, superficial exchanges.
• Online Spaces: The physical context also applies to virtual environments. The design and features of an online platform (like a professional webinar room or a relaxed group chat) shape the communication dynamics considering the physical environment of the participants, the efficiency of their electronic devices, and the robustness of their internet connections.

5. Social Context

hge social context refers to the societal structures and systems within which the communication occurs. This isn’t about cultural values but social rules, but the concepts are interlinked .

Society’s structures and systems could include family units, peer groups, organizations, societies, and even broader social-economic systems. The social context provides insight into the social roles and norms that shape the implicit rules of communication.

• Classroom Setting: In an educational institution, students and teachers engage in conversations adhering to the social context of the classroom. Teachers lead, instruct, and discipline, while students follow, learn, and interact within defined norms.
• Corporate Environments: The organizational structure dictates communication within a company. The way a manager communicates with an employee is distinct from the way two colleagues or two executives communicate.
• Digital Platforms: On social media platforms , distinct social contexts emerge. The way users interact on LinkedIn (a professional networking site) vastly differs from interactions on Instagram (a casual, visual-sharing platform). So, understanding the nature of the platform, its audience, and behavior standards is important.

6. Historical Context

Historical context in communication refers to the background, circumstances, or events in the past that influence the understanding and interpretation of the present communication.

Messages are often interpreted through the lens of prior events and experiences, which impact the views and reception of the receiver. Historical context helps in understanding the origins and development of current communication and literature.

Without considering the historical context, communication risks misinterpretation, as messages can be tied to past time frames with distinct norms, societal behaviors, and expected reactions.

• News Stories: When covering ongoing events, news outlets often reference previous happenings to provide their audience with a broader understanding of the issue. Such aliasing to historical context helps make sense of current events.
• Academic Studies: Scholars often delve into the historical context when studying literature, philosophy, or sociology to precisely decipher the intended meanings, allusions, and metaphors rooted in the time when a work was created.
• Political Speeches: Politicians regularly draw on historical events in their speeches to set their agenda, invoke shared sentiments, or justify their policies. Understanding this historical context helps constituents to appreciate and critically analyze their messages.

Read More: 21 Historical Context Examples

7. Relational Context

Relational context in communication refers to the established relationship and shared history between the communicators.

The history of interactions and the nature of the relationship between the communicators significantly affect the meaning extracted from their communication. In fact, the established rapport, goodwill, and trustworthiness based on prior interactions often dictate the manner of current and future interactions.

Relational context also affects how messages are presented. Friends will communicate differently than strangers, and long-term colleagues will communicate differently than newly-introduced workmates.

• Friends’ Gatherings: At a friends’ gathering, individuals speak openly, use inside jokes, and demonstrate behaviors governed by their established relational context.
• Teacher-Student Interaction: In an academic setting, the teacher-student relationship—shaped by perceived roles, past encounters, and established rapport—affects how they communicate, impacting the learning experience .
• Negotiations: During business negotiations, the history of business dealings sets a relational context influencing the trust levels, negotiation techniques, and potential outcomes of the negotiation. Understanding this relational context is crucial for successful negotiations.

8. Functional Context

Functional context refers to the intended goal or function of communication.

The function can vary from giving or receiving information, problem-solving, decision-making, persuading, entertaining, expressing feelings, and so forth. This context will affect the method of communication used and the kind of content that’s conducive to achieving the intended goal.

Understanding the function of communication can lead to selecting the right communication practices to facilitate the desired outcomes.

• Educational Courses: In a classroom setting, the functional context is to transfer knowledge and skills from the teacher to the students, shaping the communication forms like lectures, discussions, and evaluations.
• Business Meetings: Business meetings serve multiple functions such as information exchange, decision-making, problem-solving, which govern the meeting’s agenda, protocols, and the participants’ communication.
• Social Media Platforms: The functional context varies across different social media platforms. Platforms like Twitter are more news-centric and involve information sharing, while Instagram focuses more on visual experiences and personal sharing. Each one’s functional context shapes user behavior, communication, and engagement.

9. Situational Context

Situational context refers to the specific circumstances or events that surround a communication act.

These circumstances can include factors like the event that led to this communication, the reason for communicating, and the immediate reactions required by the situation. It shapes the communication and its urgency, formality, and style.

Situational context is important in understanding the nuances of messages that can be lost without understanding the specific circumstances of the situation.

• Emergency Services: In emergencies like natural disasters, the situational context necessitates immediate, clear, and precise communication to coordinate rescue efforts.
• Job Interviews: The situational context of a job interview involves formal communication focusing on the candidate’s qualifications, experience, and fit for a job.
• Wedding Toasts: At a wedding, speeches and toasts are guided by the situational context. They focus on celebrating the couple, sharing anecdotes , expressing well wishes, and maintaining a festive atmosphere.

10. Environmental Context

Environmental context in communication encompasses the broader physical, social, and cultural environment impacting the communication process.

This can include the geographical location, cultural norms, societal structures, climatic conditions, and the available communication infrastructure of this environment.

Often, environmental context creates potential barriers or facilitators to effective communication, and understanding it can enhance the adaptation and effectiveness of communication strategies.

• Rural vs. Urban Settings: In a rural setting, limited technological infrastructure can affect the mode and speed of communication compared with an urban context equipped with advanced technology.
• Cross-Cultural Communication: Understanding the cultural and social norms of the environment is crucial in cross-cultural communication to ensure respect and effective communication.
• Climate Communication: In areas prone to natural disasters, communication often involves preparedness measures, safety procedures, and updates about climate conditions, reflecting the environmental context’s influence on communication.

Before you Go

• To learn how to understand context in communication, visit my guide on context clues .
• To learn more about context, visit my guide to the different types of context .
• To learn more about communication, visit my guide to the different communication styles .

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 15 Animism Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 10 Magical Thinking Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Social-Emotional Learning (Definition, Examples, Pros & Cons)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is Educational Psychology?

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Chapter 1: The Speech Communication Process

The Speech Communication Process

• Listener(s)

Interference

As you might imagine, the speaker is the crucial first element within the speech communication process. Without a speaker, there is no process.  The  speaker  is simply the person who is delivering, or presenting, the speech.  A speaker might be someone who is training employees in your workplace. Your professor is another example of a public speaker as s/he gives a lecture. Even a stand-up comedian can be considered a public speaker. After all, each of these people is presenting an oral message to an audience in a public setting. Most speakers, however, would agree that the listener is one of the primary reasons that they speak.

The listener is just as important as the speaker; neither one is effective without the other.  The  listener  is the person or persons who have assembled to hear the oral message.  Some texts might even call several listeners an “audience. ” The listener generally forms an opinion as to the effectiveness of the speaker and the validity of the speaker’s message based on what they see and hear during the presentation. The listener’s job sometimes includes critiquing, or evaluating, the speaker’s style and message. You might be asked to critique your classmates as they speak or to complete an evaluation of a public speaker in another setting. That makes the job of the listener extremely important. Providing constructive feedback to speakers often helps the speaker improve her/his speech tremendously.

Another crucial element in the speech process is the message.  The  message  is what the speaker is discussing or the ideas that s/he is presenting to you as s/he covers a particular topic.  The important chapter concepts presented by your professor become the message during a lecture. The commands and steps you need to use, the new software at work, are the message of the trainer as s/he presents the information to your department. The message might be lengthy, such as the President’s State of the Union address, or fairly brief, as in a five-minute presentation given in class.

The  channel  is the means by which the message is sent or transmitted.  Different channels are used to deliver the message, depending on the communication type or context. For instance, in mass communication, the channel utilized might be a television or radio broadcast. The use of a cell phone is an example of a channel that you might use to send a friend a message in interpersonal communication. However, the channel typically used within public speaking is the speaker’s voice, or more specifically, the sound waves used to carry the voice to those listening. You could watch a prerecorded speech or one accessible on YouTube, and you might now say the channel is the television or your computer. This is partially true. However, the speech would still have no value if the speaker’s voice was not present, so in reality, the channel is now a combination of the two -the speaker’s voice broadcast through an electronic source.

The context is a bit more complicated than the other elements we have discussed so far. The context is more than one specific component. For example, when you give a speech in your classroom, the classroom, or  the physical location of your speech, is part of the context  . That’s probably the easiest part of context to grasp.

But you should also consider that the  people in your audience expect you to behave in a certain manner, depending on the physical location or the occasion of the presentation  . If you gave a toast at a wedding, the audience wouldn’t be surprised if you told a funny story about the couple or used informal gestures such as a high-five or a slap on the groom’s back. That would be acceptable within the expectations of your audience, given the occasion. However, what if the reason for your speech was the presentation of a eulogy at a loved one’s funeral? Would the audience still find a high-five or humor as acceptable in that setting? Probably not. So the expectations of your audience must be factored into context as well.

The cultural rules -often unwritten and sometimes never formally communicated to us -are also a part of the context. Depending on your culture, you would probably agree that there are some “rules ” typically adhered to by those attending a funeral. In some cultures, mourners wear dark colors and are somber and quiet. In other cultures, grieving out loud or beating one’s chest to show extreme grief is traditional. Therefore,  the rules from our culture  -no matter what they are -play a part in the context as well.

Every speaker hopes that her/his speech is clearly understood by the audience. However, there are times when some obstacle gets in the way of the message and interferes with the listener’s ability to hear what’s being said.  This is  interference  , or you might have heard it referred to as “noise. ”  Every speaker must prepare and present with the assumption that interference is likely to be present in the speaking environment.

Interference can be mental, physical, or physiological.  Mental interference  occurs when the listener is not fully focused on what s/he is hearing due to her/his own thoughts.  If you’ve ever caught yourself daydreaming in class during a lecture, you’re experiencing mental interference. Your own thoughts are getting in the way of the message.

A second form of interference is  physical interference  . This is noise in the literal sense -someone coughing behind you during a speech or the sound of a mower outside the classroom window. You may be unable to hear the speaker because of the surrounding environmental noises.

The last form of interference is  physiological  . This type of interference occurs when your body is responsible for the blocked signals. A deaf person, for example, has the truest form of physiological interference; s/he may have varying degrees of difficulty hearing the message. If you’ve ever been in a room that was too cold or too hot and found yourself not paying attention, you’re experiencing physiological interference. Your bodily discomfort distracts from what is happening around you.

The final component within the speech process is feedback. While some might assume that the speaker is the only one who sends a message during a speech, the reality is that the  listeners in the audience are sending a message of their own, called  feedback  .  Often this is how the speaker knows if s/he is sending an effective message. Occasionally the feedback from listeners comes in verbal form – questions from the audience or an angry response from a listener about a key point presented. However, in general, feedback during a presentation is typically non-verbal -a student nodding her/his head in agreement or a confused look from an audience member. An observant speaker will scan the audience for these forms of feedback, but keep in mind that non-verbal feedback is often more difficult to spot and to decipher. For example, is a yawn a sign of boredom, or is it simply a tired audience member?

Generally, all of the above elements are present during a speech. However, you might wonder what the process would look like if we used a diagram to illustrate it. Initially, some students think of public speaking as a linear process -the speaker sending a message to the listener -a simple, straight line. But if you’ll think about the components we’ve just covered, you begin to see that a straight line cannot adequately represent the process, when we add listener feedback into the process. The listener is sending her/his own message back to the speaker, so perhaps the process might better be represented as circular. Add in some interference and place the example in context, and you have a more complete idea of the speech process.

Fundamentals of Public Speaking Copyright © by Lumen Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Types of Speech Context | Oral Communication in Context

Every day we deal with various kinds of conversations. Many of us wake up checking our phones if there are new messages in chat groups and email apps. Some have the confidence to take photos of themselves and posting them on their Facebook or Instagram accounts with the caption “Woke up like this” which surely gain reacts and comments from their friends. I bet many of us look in the mirror when we leave our bed and check our faces. If you are living with your family, mornings are filled with greetings and talks about food and activities for the day. When eating breakfast, some prefer to watch the morning news program while chewing the sumptuous meal.

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During the pre- pandemic time, you engage with your classmates in group works and reporting. You answer your teacher’s questions and you inquire for the things unclear to you. During break time, you exchange stories with your friends while enjoying your snacks. In eight hours you stay in the school, you communicate multiple times with various people. When you home, you talk with your family and narrate what happened the whole day. Before sleeping, some of you have activities like writing a diary, meditation or prayer, writing to-do list and the like.

Now that we are in the pandemic, physical interaction became limited. We miss going out with our friends and relatives and share moments with them. Good thing that there are social media platforms we use to reach out and enjoy things even we are confined to our houses. With the advancement of technology, we can connect to thousands of people wherever we are and in real time. Thus, communication is diverse in terms of the situations or environment we are in. This is speech context comes in.

Speech context is about the environment where the communication happens and how the message is relayed during the process. By knowing the speech context of a conversation, we can easily understand the message and we can make feedback clearly and appropriately.

There are four types of speech context: intrapersonal, interpersonal, public, and mass communication.

Intrapersonal - this communication happens within oneself. This means that the speaker acts as the source and the receiver of the message. When you do self- reflection, you analyze your thoughts and feelings. By knowing what you feel, you can assess yourself on how to react on it.

When you are asked what degree program you want to pursue in the college, you think of your interests and talents, and your strengths and weaknesses before answering.

You make yourself calm after realizing that you lost the food container while you are on your way back home.

Interpersonal - this communication involves two or more people. The conversation can be formal or informal, intimate or casual depending on the relationship people involved have.

There are two types of interpersonal communication: dyad and small group.

Dyad communication - two people are involved in this communication.

You talked to your mother that you need an illustration board for your activity tomorrow.

Your doctor asks about what you want to consult it.

Small group - three but not more than twelve people are part of the conversation. This type of communication is present during brainstorming or collaborating with other people.

Your group is pitching ideas for the research title to be presented.

Your father told the whole family that the trip to Hundred Islands will not push through because of the tropical depression.

Public - in this type of communication, you can deliver a message to bigger number people in a venue. When someone is giving a message to the public, he/ she usually inform or persuade people.

You express your message of thanks during the commencement exercises in the school.

A candidate tells his/ her platform in a grand rally.

Mass communication - this communication has television, social media, newspaper, magazines, and the like as channels. This type of communication reaches millions of people.

A weather forecaster informs the audiences about the location of the typhoon.

A blog entry about the Tondol White Sand Beach became trending on social media.

Now that you learned about the different types of speech context, it is time to take this short test to know how much you learned from this lesson.

Direction: Identify the type of speech context in the following situations.

• The town doctor does a live broadcast on Facebook about the latest COVID-19 update.
• Your parents are talking about the monthly bills.
• A pastor gives his sermon to the attendees.
• You exclaimed “I can do this” before your turn to sing on the stage.
• DepEd TV airs TV lesson.

Sources: 

Domingo, M. & Liboon, K. (2020). Oral communication in context quarter 1- module 5: types of speech context . Department of Education- Region IV-A CALABARZON: Rizal

Sipacio, P. J. & Balgos, A. R. (2016). Oral communication in context for senior high school . C & E Publishing, Inc.: Quezon City

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14.1 Four Methods of Delivery

Learning objectives.

• Differentiate among the four methods of speech delivery.
• Understand when to use each of the four methods of speech delivery.

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The easiest approach to speech delivery is not always the best. Substantial work goes into the careful preparation of an interesting and ethical message, so it is understandable that students may have the impulse to avoid “messing it up” by simply reading it word for word. But students who do this miss out on one of the major reasons for studying public speaking: to learn ways to “connect” with one’s audience and to increase one’s confidence in doing so. You already know how to read, and you already know how to talk. But public speaking is neither reading nor talking.

Speaking in public has more formality than talking. During a speech, you should present yourself professionally. This doesn’t mean you must wear a suit or “dress up” (unless your instructor asks you to), but it does mean making yourself presentable by being well groomed and wearing clean, appropriate clothes. It also means being prepared to use language correctly and appropriately for the audience and the topic, to make eye contact with your audience, and to look like you know your topic very well.

While speaking has more formality than talking, it has less formality than reading. Speaking allows for meaningful pauses, eye contact, small changes in word order, and vocal emphasis. Reading is a more or less exact replication of words on paper without the use of any nonverbal interpretation. Speaking, as you will realize if you think about excellent speakers you have seen and heard, provides a more animated message.

The next sections introduce four methods of delivery that can help you balance between too much and too little formality when giving a public speech.

Impromptu Speaking

Impromptu speaking is the presentation of a short message without advance preparation. Impromptu speeches often occur when someone is asked to “say a few words” or give a toast on a special occasion. You have probably done impromptu speaking many times in informal, conversational settings. Self-introductions in group settings are examples of impromptu speaking: “Hi, my name is Steve, and I’m a volunteer with the Homes for the Brave program.” Another example of impromptu speaking occurs when you answer a question such as, “What did you think of the documentary?”

The advantage of this kind of speaking is that it’s spontaneous and responsive in an animated group context. The disadvantage is that the speaker is given little or no time to contemplate the central theme of his or her message. As a result, the message may be disorganized and difficult for listeners to follow.

Here is a step-by-step guide that may be useful if you are called upon to give an impromptu speech in public.

• Take a moment to collect your thoughts and plan the main point you want to make.
• Thank the person for inviting you to speak.
• Deliver your message, making your main point as briefly as you can while still covering it adequately and at a pace your listeners can follow.
• Thank the person again for the opportunity to speak.
• Stop talking.

As you can see, impromptu speeches are generally most successful when they are brief and focus on a single point.

Extemporaneous Speaking

Extemporaneous speaking is the presentation of a carefully planned and rehearsed speech, spoken in a conversational manner using brief notes. By using notes rather than a full manuscript, the extemporaneous speaker can establish and maintain eye contact with the audience and assess how well they are understanding the speech as it progresses. The opportunity to assess is also an opportunity to restate more clearly any idea or concept that the audience seems to have trouble grasping.

For instance, suppose you are speaking about workplace safety and you use the term “sleep deprivation.” If you notice your audience’s eyes glazing over, this might not be a result of their own sleep deprivation, but rather an indication of their uncertainty about what you mean. If this happens, you can add a short explanation; for example, “sleep deprivation is sleep loss serious enough to threaten one’s cognition, hand-to-eye coordination, judgment, and emotional health.” You might also (or instead) provide a concrete example to illustrate the idea. Then you can resume your message, having clarified an important concept.

Speaking extemporaneously has some advantages. It promotes the likelihood that you, the speaker, will be perceived as knowledgeable and credible. In addition, your audience is likely to pay better attention to the message because it is engaging both verbally and nonverbally. The disadvantage of extemporaneous speaking is that it requires a great deal of preparation for both the verbal and the nonverbal components of the speech. Adequate preparation cannot be achieved the day before you’re scheduled to speak.

Because extemporaneous speaking is the style used in the great majority of public speaking situations, most of the information in this chapter is targeted to this kind of speaking.

Speaking from a Manuscript

Manuscript speaking is the word-for-word iteration of a written message. In a manuscript speech, the speaker maintains his or her attention on the printed page except when using visual aids.

The advantage to reading from a manuscript is the exact repetition of original words. As we mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, in some circumstances this can be extremely important. For example, reading a statement about your organization’s legal responsibilities to customers may require that the original words be exact. In reading one word at a time, in order, the only errors would typically be mispronunciation of a word or stumbling over complex sentence structure.

However, there are costs involved in manuscript speaking. First, it’s typically an uninteresting way to present. Unless the speaker has rehearsed the reading as a complete performance animated with vocal expression and gestures (as poets do in a poetry slam and actors do in a reader’s theater), the presentation tends to be dull. Keeping one’s eyes glued to the script precludes eye contact with the audience. For this kind of “straight” manuscript speech to hold audience attention, the audience must be already interested in the message before the delivery begins.

It is worth noting that professional speakers, actors, news reporters, and politicians often read from an autocue device, such as a TelePrompTer, especially when appearing on television, where eye contact with the camera is crucial. With practice, a speaker can achieve a conversational tone and give the impression of speaking extemporaneously while using an autocue device. However, success in this medium depends on two factors: (1) the speaker is already an accomplished public speaker who has learned to use a conversational tone while delivering a prepared script, and (2) the speech is written in a style that sounds conversational.

Speaking from Memory

Memorized speaking is the rote recitation of a written message that the speaker has committed to memory. Actors, of course, recite from memory whenever they perform from a script in a stage play, television program, or movie scene. When it comes to speeches, memorization can be useful when the message needs to be exact and the speaker doesn’t want to be confined by notes.

The advantage to memorization is that it enables the speaker to maintain eye contact with the audience throughout the speech. Being free of notes means that you can move freely around the stage and use your hands to make gestures. If your speech uses visual aids, this freedom is even more of an advantage. However, there are some real and potential costs. First, unless you also plan and memorize every vocal cue (the subtle but meaningful variations in speech delivery, which can include the use of pitch, tone, volume, and pace), gesture, and facial expression, your presentation will be flat and uninteresting, and even the most fascinating topic will suffer. You might end up speaking in a monotone or a sing-song repetitive delivery pattern. You might also present your speech in a rapid “machine-gun” style that fails to emphasize the most important points. Second, if you lose your place and start trying to ad lib, the contrast in your style of delivery will alert your audience that something is wrong. More frighteningly, if you go completely blank during the presentation, it will be extremely difficult to find your place and keep going.

Key Takeaways

• There are four main kinds of speech delivery: impromptu, extemporaneous, manuscript, and memorized.
• Impromptu speaking involves delivering a message on the spur of the moment, as when someone is asked to “say a few words.”
• Extemporaneous speaking consists of delivering a speech in a conversational fashion using notes. This is the style most speeches call for.
• Manuscript speaking consists of reading a fully scripted speech. It is useful when a message needs to be delivered in precise words.
• Memorized speaking consists of reciting a scripted speech from memory. Memorization allows the speaker to be free of notes.
• Find a short newspaper story. Read it out loud to a classroom partner. Then, using only one notecard, tell the classroom partner in your own words what the story said. Listen to your partner’s observations about the differences in your delivery.
• In a group of four or five students, ask each student to give a one-minute impromptu speech answering the question, “What is the most important personal quality for academic success?”
• Watch the evening news. Observe the differences between news anchors using a TelePrompTer and interviewees who are using no notes of any kind. What differences do you observe?

Stand up, Speak out Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Context and subtext in dialogue: Creating layered speech

What are context and subtext in dialogue? Why do they matter? How can you use both to create multiple levels of meaning and significance in speech? Find out.

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Context and subtext in dialogue helps us read place, emotion, motivation and more in speech. Use this guide to context and subtext in dialogue to write communication that comes alive in spoken and unspoken cues.

What is subtext in conversation? Definition and types

‘Subtext’ is what lies ‘beneath’ the text ( sub- meaning ‘beneath’ as in ‘submarine’ or ‘substandard’). In other words, subtext is the underlying motivations , feelings, meanings – what isn’t explicitly stated.

It’s one of the elements of human-written dialogue that make it stand out from AI-generated storytelling (as of 2023).

For example, the dialogue tag and action in this example suggest that Martin’s feelings contradict what he’s saying:

“What an amazing day,” Martin said, his affect flat, as he threw himself down to lie on the couch, hoping she’d caught the sarcasm.

The motivational subtext to this dialogue might be that Martin wants someone to notice he’s had a bad day.

The emotional subtext in Martin’s sarcasm suggests frustration, angst. Perhaps the desire to vent or for someone to help him feel better.

What are different types of subtext? Read six types below.

Keep reading for eight types of context in dialogue, too, plus examples of both subtext and context from books. Read our complete guide to dialogue when done for more tips to write meaningful conversation.

Why is subtext in conversation important?

Subtext in dialogue is important because:

• Subtext helps to avoid on-the-nose dialogue . Real communication doesn’t all happen on the surface, in direct statements or questions and answers. People read tone, body language and other ‘sub-‘ layers of communication to understand feeling, inference, shifts and changes
• Subtext makes dialogue feel alive . For example, gestures in dialogue supply a sense of attitude and personality. See Lily’s mother running her finger over a surface to check for dust in the example section below (suggesting a critical nature).
• Subtext aids tension and ambiguity . Inference (such as in Martin implying he’s had a bad day in the example above) creates tension and ambiguity. Often there’s something more than exactly what’s being said going on.

Types of subtext in dialogue

Read definitions of six types of subtext in dialogue:

The unsaid emotions (e.g. anger, joy, fear) which dialogue conveys via tone, gestures, facial expressions, body language, movement.

The inference of what a character wants, their reason to speak. For example, a character who says ‘You know you’re my favorite person, right?’ They might be buttering someone up to ask a favor.

In dialogue, subtextual aspects that suggest power are signs of dynamics such as submission, dominance, control, passivity. Who’s in the driver’s seat, or are the power dynamics balanced?

Unspoken cultural (or subcultural) elements that inform conversation. For example, how a kid familiar with lingo from the video game Among Us may say something’s ‘sus’ to their parents, meaning ‘suspicious’.

Personal subtext in conversation is a speaker’s private history, experiences or backstory. It’s the way these elements shape how a person speaks, responds.

The psychological subtext of conversation refers to psychological processes in dialogue (such as projection – e.g., calling someone a liar when feeling bad about having lied).

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Before we explore examples from books, let’s go over context in writing dialogue. What is context, and why does it matter?

What is context in dialogue?

Context in dialogue specifically is what we read ‘together with the text’ (the literal translation of context ).

In other words, where the conversation takes place , or events connected to the conversation. The known or previously given information necessary to understand the conversation. The surrounding facts which speech reflects.

To compare context and subtext in dialogue:

• Context is known/given, subtext is more inferred and implied
• Context helps us understand the facts of a conversation, while subtext helps us understand the hidden or implied meaning
• Usually context is more direct and straightforward, not requiring us to pay as much attention to nuance as subtext.
• Context builds a framework for narrative and story (filling in details such as where we are). Subtext, meanwhile, adds layers of complexity and depth

Both context and subtext move and change.

Making dialogue alive with both surface and deeper currents of meaning keeps it intriguing, bristling with tension and possibility. Tweet This

Why is context in writing conversation important?

Clear context in dialogue is helpful because it:

• Supplies a sense of place and time. Characters are not like talking heads on ‘green screen’, their context disappearing periodically
• Gives cues on expect norms for conversation . For example, an utterance in parliament may be wildly inappropriate, while at a bachelor party nobody would flinch for the same statement. Context shapes our conversational expectations
• Gives cues that infer additional details . For example, a family that discusses art and literature may read as having a higher level of cultural awareness and/or education than a family whose conversation mostly tends towards base topics

Types of context in dialogue

Read eight types of context in dialogue:

The culture or subculture in which a conversation takes place.

Historical context in dialogue refers to elements of historical period or era clarified by speech. For example, how the ‘thees’ and ‘thous’ of Shakespeare tell us we’re in the Renaissance or Early Modern era.

Social context refers to aspects of relationship and connection. For example, weaving in signs in dialogue that the relationship between two speakers is child and parent or brother and sister.

The emotional context of a conversation is the known signs giving how speakers feel. For example, when you use the dialogue tag ‘bellowed’ the contextual detail of increased volume infers the subtext that the speaker is angry, maybe, or trying to be heard above noise.

The physical environment in which a conversation takes place (e.g. on a metro station, next to a public statue).

The language details in a conversation which supply clues about other aspects of context. For example, the way ‘posh’ speech and grammar imply a speaker is privileged or upper-class.

In dialogue, the overt political aspects of conversation, such as the political climate (characters’ conversations about terms such as ‘woke’ in the TV series The White Lotus , for example, situate the story amid contemporary identity politics).

The known personal or historical experiences of a speaker that color how we read what they say (for example, a trauma survivor being triggered by what others say makes sense to us if we know and empathize with their personal context).

Dialogue examples with good subtext and context

Let’s explore examples of effective subtext in dialogue as well as context from books:

Example of emotional, social and situational context and subtext

Here is an example of emotional subtext and social context from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera (literary, historical).

Situational context (the background situation)

Florentino Ariza has been dreaming of unrequited love for Fermina Daza for fifty-one years. Yet Fermina’s husband has only just died. Note how her response suggests the social context of Florentino’s timing being wildly inappropriate. Also the emotional subtext of Fermina reacting to Florentino’s insensitivity to her feelings (having approached her romantically so soon after her husband’s death):

“Fermina, ” he said, “I have waited for this opportunity for more than half a century, to repeat to you once again my vow of eternal fidelity and everlasting love.” Fermina Daza would have thought she was facing a madman if she had not had reason to believe that at that moment Florentina Ariza was inspired by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Her first impulse was to curse him for profaning the house when the body of her husband was still warm in the grave. But the dignity of her fury held her back. “Get out of here,” she said. “And don’t show your face again for the years of life that are left to you.” She opened the street door, which she had begun to close, and concluded: “And I hope there are very few of them.” Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), p.50

Emotional subtext and social context

The emotional subtext is that Fermina is not at all ready to hear romantic proposals. Florentino, on the other hand, has clearly been longing and preparing for this day. Fermina does not need to say ‘I’m not in the headspace for romance’ explicitly for the reader to understand this.

Due to the conversation occurring at Fermina’s husband’s wake, it makes sense that she wants to avoid a dramatic scene . This uses the social context well.

Example of psychological subtext in dialogue

In Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway , Woolf uses dialogue to show the strain a woman named Rezia is taking. Her husband’s mental health is damaged due to his experiences in the First World War.

Woolf creates a striking sense of the veteran’s turbulent psychological state (and how Rezia struggles to carry this change).

Situational context

Rezia and her husband Septimus are in the park. He has signs of what today we’d call PTSD, plagued by ghostly visions of his dead comrade at arms, Evans. There is a sense of the surrounding stimuli being overwhelming.

This passage starts in Septimus’ POV then Woolf switches to his wife’s viewpoint:

But they beckoned; leaves were alive; trees were alive. And the leaves being connected by millions of fibres with his own body, there on the seat, fanned it up and down […] “Septimus!” said Rezia. He started violently. People must notice. “I am going to walk to the fountain and back,” she said. For she could stand it no longer. Dr. Holmes might say there was nothing the matter. Far rather would she that he were dead! She could not sit beside him when he stared so and did not see her and made everything terrible; sky and tree, children playing, dragging carts, blowing whistles, falling down; all were terrible. And he would not kill himself; and she could tell no one. “Septimus has been working too hard” – that was all she could say, to her own mother. Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (1925), pp. 18-19.

Psychological subtext

Note how the dialogue conveys the subtext of Rezia finding it hard that Septimus is not himself. She scolds and reprimands him (‘Septimus!’). She announces a walk to the fountain. The psychological implication or subtext is that Rezia needs a break from her spouse’s antics. The most telling subtext that Rezia feels an element of shame and embarrassment is in her words to her mother: ‘Septimus has been working too hard’. There is pathos in the vivid sense of Rezia trying to sweep the troubling changes under the rug.

Example of cultural, social and historical context

Here is example of effective context from Thomas Harris’ Imperium (historical, political drama). The novel is about the famous Roman orator Cicero.

Cicero is learning how to be a better orator (skilled public speaker) from Molon, his mentor. ( The Times called Molon ‘the first political image consulant’).

We see cultural, social and historical context:

‘But what about the content of what I say?’ Cicero asked. ‘Surely I will compel attention chiefly by the force of my arguments? Molon shrugged. ‘Content does not concern me. Remember Demosthenes: “Only three things count in oratory. Delivery, delivery, and again: delivery.” ‘And my stutter?’ ‘The st-st-stutter does not b-b-bother me either,’ replied Molon with a grin and a wink. ‘Seriously, it adds interest and a useful impression of honesty. Demosthenes himself had a slight lisp. The audience identifies with these flaws. It is only perfection which is dull. Now, move further down the beach and still try to make me hear.’ Thomas Harris, Imperium (2006), p. 9.

Cultural, social and historical context

Culturally, we understand the importance of public speaking skills in life in ancient Rome from this segment.

The social context of referring to predecessors suggests this society’s reverence for tradition and forbears.

Overall, we get a sense of historical context. For example, the important role mentor figures played in this era. The conversation conveys the social value of honesty, and the idea of perfection being ‘dull’ in Roman audiences’ opinions.

Example of subtext with personal and power dynamic aspects

Let’s turn to a different genre and more contemporary example of subtext in dialogue. An example from Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us (2016, Romance/New Adult).

Situational context:

College graduate Lily Bloom has moved to Boston. Her abusive father has recently died and her mother has come to visit.

“Oh .” That’s all she says. My mother turns and assesses the building, running a finger over the windowsill next to her. She picks up a layer of dust and wipes it between her fingers. “It’s…” “It needs a lot of work, I know,” I interrupt. I point at the windows behind her. “But look at the storefront. It has potential.” She scrolls over the windows, nodding. There’s this sound she makes in the back of her throat sometimes, where she agrees with a little hum but her lips remain tight. It means she doesn’t actually agree. And she makes that sound. Twice. Colleen Hoover, It Ends with Us (p. 39, Kindle version)

Personal subtext and power subtext

The personal subtext that is clear in the exchange is that Lily is used to her mother being disapproving/critical. Yet she is hoping for more (‘ that’s all she says’ ).

The power subtext here is clearly a difficult mother-daughter dynamic where Lily wants her mom’s validation/approval. Yet her mom is rigid in her own values/standards.

How have you used context and subtext in your own dialogue? Share an example from your WIP or from a favorite book in the comments!

Get feedback on dialogue and scenes weekly, story outlining tools that build a structured outline as you go to download or print, plus writing craft webinars. Start writing with structure and support .

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Related Posts:

• Realistic dialogue: Creating characters' speech patterns
• Writing dialogue: Complete guide to storied speech
• Great dialogue: 10 tips from movie dialogue pros

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

6 replies on “Context and subtext in dialogue: Creating layered speech”

Here’s an example of subtext from my WIP: I looked at my client. “Good news, Nellie. Your laptop has turned up.” Nellie’s smile came a little late. “Oh, that’s wonderful,” she blurted. “Thank goodness they found it!” She clasped her hands together in apparent gratitude. Despite her words and her actions, though, she didn’t strike me as particularly ecstatic.

This is great, David. I like the inference that Nellie doesn’t maybe want her laptop to be found (perhaps worried about what they’ll find on it). It certainly piqued my curiosity. Thanks for reading and sharing this example of dialogue subtext.

I liked this article. It gives writers more clues to consider to help our readers follow along. I think I need to recalibrate my ratio of context to subtext. It’s fun to play with meaning, but if readers don’t understand the situation, what’s the point?

Nice example, @David 😊

That is one of the useful exercises one can do in revision (recalibrating the ratio of subtext to context, as you put it). It is a tricky balance (especially with the experimental or surreal) between giving enough context to anchor story in something concrete and leaving enough inferred through subtext and implication for dialogue not to become too didactic or ‘on-the-nose’. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Great post! I use interior monologue as subtext. Also actions that infer a different meaning to what is said. I’m thinking that I’m on the right track. The examples were helpful. Thank you. 📚 Christine

Hi Christine, thank you for your great feedback. It sounds as though you are. Happy writing!

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Figurative Language

Figurative Language Definition

What is figurative language? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

Figurative language is language that contains or uses figures of speech . When people use the term "figurative language," however, they often do so in a slightly narrower way. In this narrower definition, figurative language refers to language that uses words in ways that deviate from their literal interpretation to achieve a more complex or powerful effect. This view of figurative language focuses on the use of figures of speech that play with the meaning of words, such as metaphor , simile , personification , and hyperbole .

Some additional key details about figurative language:

• Figurative language is common in all sorts of writing, as well as in spoken language.
• Figurative language refers to language that contains figures of speech, while figures of speech are the particular techniques. If figurative speech is like a dance routine, figures of speech are like the various moves that make up the routine.
• It's a common misconception that imagery, or vivid descriptive language, is a kind of figurative language. In fact, writers can use figurative language as one tool to help create imagery, but imagery does not have to use figurative language.

Figurative Language Pronunciation

Here's how to pronounce figurative language: fig -yer-uh-tiv lang -gwij

Figures of Speech and Figurative Language

To fully understand figurative language, it's helpful to have a basic understanding of figures of speech. More specifically, it's helpful to understand the two main types of figures of speech: tropes and schemes .

• Tropes are figures of speech that play with and shift the expected and literal meaning of words.
• Schemes are figures of speech that involve a change from the typical mechanics of a sentence, such as the order, pattern, or arrangement of words.

Put even more simply: tropes play with the meaning of words, while schemes play with the structure of words, phrases, and sentences.

The Different Things People Mean When They Say Figurative Language

When people say figurative language, they don't always mean the precise same thing. Here are the three different ways people usually talk about figurative language:

• Dictionary definition of figurative language: According to the dictionary, figurative language is simply any language that contains or uses figures of speech. This definition would mean that figurative language includes the use of both tropes and schemes.
• Much more common real world use of figurative language: However, when people (including teachers) refer to figurative language, they usually mean language that plays with the literal meaning of words. This definition sees figurative language as language that primarily involves the use of tropes.
• Another common real world use of figurative language: Some people define figurative language as including figures of speech that play with meaning as well as a few other common schemes that affect the rhythm and sound of text, such as alliteration and assonance .

What does all that boil down to for you? If you hear someone talking about figurative language, you can usually safely assume they are referring to language that uses figures of speech to play with the meaning of words and, perhaps, with the way that language sounds or feels.

Common Types of Figurative Language

There are many, many types of figures of speech that can be involved in figurative language. Some of the most common are:

• Metaphor : A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unrelated things by stating that one thing is another thing, even though this isn't literally true. For example, the phrase "her lips are a blooming rose" obviously doesn't literally mean what it says—it's a metaphor that makes a comparison between the red beauty and promise of a blooming rose with that of the lips of the woman being described.
• Simile : A simile, like a metaphor, makes a comparison between two unrelated things. However, instead of stating that one thing is another thing (as in metaphor), a simile states that one thing is like another thing. An example of a simile would be to say "they fought like cats and dogs."
• Oxymoron : An oxymoron pairs contradictory words in order to express new or complex meanings. In the phrase "parting is such sweet sorrow" from Romeo and Juliet , "sweet sorrow" is an oxymoron that captures the complex and simultaneous feelings of pain and pleasure associated with passionate love.
• Hyperbole : Hyperbole is an intentional exaggeration of the truth, used to emphasize the importance of something or to create a comic effect. An example of a hyperbole is to say that a backpack "weighs a ton." No backpack literally weighs a ton, but to say "my backpack weighs ten pounds" doesn't effectively communicate how burdensome a heavy backpack feels.
• Personification : In personification, non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down on the wedding guests, indifferent to their plans." Describing the rain as "indifferent" is an example of personification, because rain can't be "indifferent," nor can it feel any other human emotion.
• Idiom : An idiom is a phrase that, through general usage within a particular group or society, has gained a meaning that is different from the literal meaning of the words. The phrase "it's raining cats and dogs" is known to most Americans to mean that it's raining hard, but an English-speaking foreigner in the United States might find the phrase totally confusing.
• Onomatopoeia : Onomatopoeia is a figure of speech in which words evoke the actual sound of the thing they refer to or describe. The “boom” of a firework exploding, the “tick tock” of a clock, and the “ding dong” of a doorbell are all examples of onomatopoeia.
• Synecdoche : In synecdoche, a part of something is used to refer to its whole . For example, "The captain commands one hundred sails" is a synecdoche that uses "sails" to refer to ships—ships being the thing of which a sail is a part.
• Metonymy : Metonymy is a figure of speech in which an object or concept is referred to not by its own name, but instead by the name of something closely associated with it. For example, in "Wall Street prefers lower taxes," the New York City street that was the original home of the New York Stock Exchange stands in for (or is a "metonym" for) the entire American financial industry.
• Alliteration : In alliteration, the same sound repeats in a group of words, such as the “ b ” sound in: “ B ob b rought the b ox of b ricks to the b asement.” Alliteration uses repetition to create a musical effect that helps phrases to stand out from the language around them.
• Assonance : The repetition of vowel sounds repeat in nearby words, such as the " ee " sound: "the squ ea ky wh ee l gets the gr ea se." Like alliteration, assonance uses repeated sounds to create a musical effect in which words echo one another.

Figurative Language vs. Imagery

Many people (and websites) argue that imagery is a type of figurative language. That is actually incorrect. Imagery refers to a writers use of vivid and descriptive language to appeal to the reader's senses and more deeply evoke places, things, emotions, and more. The following sentence uses imagery to give the reader a sense of how what is being described looks, feels, smells, and sounds:

The night was dark and humid, the scent of rotting vegetation hung in the air, and only the sound of mosquitoes broke the quiet of the swamp.

This sentence uses no figurative language. Every word means exactly what it says, and the sentence is still an example of the use of imagery. That said, imagery can use figurative language, often to powerful effect:

The night was dark and humid, heavy with a scent of rotting vegetation like a great-aunt's heavy and inescapable perfume, and only the whining buzz of mosquitoes broke the silence of the swamp.

In this sentence, the description has been made more powerful through the use of a simile ("like a great-aunt's..."), onomatopoeia ("whining buzz," which not only describes but actually sounds like the noise made by mosquitoes), and even a bit of alliteration in the " s ilence of the s wamp."

To sum up: imagery is not a form of figurative language. But a writer can enhance his or her effort to write imagery through the use of figurative language.

Figurative Language Examples

Figurative language is more interesting, lively, beautiful, and memorable than language that's purely literal. Figurative language is found in all sorts of writing, from poetry to prose to speeches to song lyrics, and is also a common part of spoken speech. The examples below show a variety of different types of figures of speech. You can see many more examples of each type at their own specific LitChart entries.

Figurative Language Example: Metaphor

Metaphor in shakespeare's romeo and juliet.

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet , Romeo uses the following metaphor in Act 2 Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet , after sneaking into Juliet's garden and catching a glimpse of her on her balcony:

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Romeo compares Juliet to the sun not only to describe how radiantly beautiful she is, but also to convey the full extent of her power over him. He's so taken with Juliet that her appearances and disappearances affect him like those of the sun. His life "revolves" around Juliet like the earth orbits the sun.

Figurative Language Example: Simile

In this example of a simile from Slaughterhouse-Five , Billy Pilgrim emerges from an underground slaughterhouse where he has been held prisoner by the Germans during the deadly World War II firebombing of Dresden:

It wasn't safe to come out of the shelter until noon the next day. When the Americans and their guards did come out, the sky was black with smoke. The sun was an angry little pinhead. Dresden was like the moon now , nothing but minerals. The stones were hot. Everybody else in the neighborhood was dead.

Vonnegut uses simile to compare the bombed city of Dresden to the moon in order to capture the totality of the devastation—the city is so lifeless that it is like the barren moon.

Figurative Language Example: Oxymoron

These lines from Chapter 7 of Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls describe an encounter between Robert Jordan, a young American soldier fighting in the Spanish Civil War, and his lover María.

She held herself tight to him and her lips looked for his and then found them and were against them and he felt her, fresh, new and smooth and young and lovely with the warm, scalding coolness and unbelievable to be there in the robe that was as familiar as his clothes, or his shoes, or his duty and then she said, frightenedly, “And now let us do quickly what it is we do so that the other is all gone.”

The couple's relationship becomes a bright spot for both of them in the midst of war, but ultimately also a source of pain and confusion for Jordan, as he struggles to balance his obligation to fight with his desire to live happily by Maria's side. The contradiction contained within the oxymoron "scalding coolness" emphasizes the couple's conflicting emotions and impossible situation.

Figurative Language Example: Hyperbole

Elizabeth Bennet, the most free-spirited character in Pride and Prejudice , refuses Mr. Darcy's first marriage proposal with a string of hyperbole :

From the very beginning, from the first moment I may almost say, of my acquaintance with you, your manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form that ground-work of disapprobation, on which succeeding events have built so immoveable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.

Elizabeth's closing statement, that Darcy is the "last man in the world" whom she would ever marry, is an obvious hyperbole. It's hard to believe that Elizabeth would rather marry, say, an axe murderer or a diseased pirate than Mr. Darcy. Even beyond the obvious exaggeration, Austen's use of hyperbole in this exchange hints at the fact that Elizabeth's feelings for Darcy are more complicated than she admits, even to herself. Austen drops various hints throughout the beginning of the novel that Elizabeth feels something beyond mere dislike for Darcy. Taken together with these hints, Elizabeth's hyperbolic statements seem designed to convince not only Darcy, but also herself, that their relationship has no future.

Figurative Language Example: Personification

In Chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter , Nathaniel Hawthorne describes a wild rose bush that grows in front of Salem's gloomy wooden jail:

But, on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him.

In the context of the novel's setting in 17th century Boston, this rose bush, which grows wild in front of an establishment dedicated to enforcing harsh puritan values, symbolizes those elements of human nature that cannot be repressed, no matter how strict a community's moral code may be: desire, fertility, and a love of beauty. By personifying the rosebush as "offering" its blossoms to reflect Nature's pity (Nature is also personified here as having a "heart"), Hawthorne turns the passive coincidence of the rosebush's location into an image of human nature actively resisting its constraints.

Figurative Language Example: Idiom

Figurative language example: onomatopoeia.

In Act 3, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's The Tempest , Caliban uses onomatopoeia to convey the noises of the island.

Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices...

The use of onomatopoeia makes the audience feel the sounds on the island, rather than just have to take Caliban's word about there being noises.

Figurative Language Example: Synecdoche

In Act 4, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's Macbeth , an angry Macbeth kicks out a servant by saying:

Take thy face hence.

Here, "thy face" stands in for "you." Macbeth is simply telling the servant to leave, but his use of synecdoche makes the tone of his command more harsh and insulting because he uses synecdoche to treat the servant not as a person but as an object, a body part.

Figurative Language Example: Metonymy

In his song "Juicy," Notorious B.I.G. raps:

Now I'm in the limelight 'cause I rhyme tight

Here he's using "limelight" as a metonymy for fame (a "limelight" was a kind of spotlight used in old theaters, and so it came to be associated with the fame of being in the spotlight). Biggie's use of metonymy here also sets him up for a sweet rhyme.

Figurative Language Example: Alliteration

In his song "Rap God," Eminem shows his incredible lyrical dexterity by loading up the alliteration :

S o I wanna make sure, s omewhere in this chicken s cratch I S cribble and doodle enough rhymes T o maybe t ry t o help get s ome people through t ough t imes But I gotta k eep a few punchlines Just in c ase, ‘ c ause even you un s igned Rappers are hungry l ooking at me l ike it's l unchtime…

Why Do Writers Use Figurative Language?

The term figurative language refers to a whole host of different figures of speech, so it's difficult to provide a single definitive answer to why writers use figurative language. That said, writers use figurative language for a wide variety of reasons:

• Interest and beauty: Figurative language allows writes to express descriptions, ideas, and more in ways that are unique and beautiful.
• Complexity and power: Because figurative language can create meanings that go beyond the literal, it can capture complex ideas, feelings, descriptions, or truths that cause readers to see things in a new way, or more closely mirror the complex reality of the world.
• Visceral affect: Because figurative language can both impact the rhythm and sound of language, and also connect the abstract (say, love) with the concrete (say, a rose), it can help language make an almost physical impact on a reader.
• Humor: By allowing a writer to layer additional meanings over literal meanings, or even to imply intended meanings that are the opposite of the literal meaning, figurative language gives writers all sorts of options for creating humor in their writing.
• Realism: People speak and even think in terms of the sorts of comparisons that underlie so much figurative language. Rather than being flowery, figurative language allows writers to describe things in ways that match how people really think about them, and to create characters who themselves feel real.

In general, figurative language often makes writing feel at once more accessible and powerful, more colorful, surprising, and deep.

Other Helpful Figurative Language Resources

• The dictionary definition of figurative : Touches on figurative language, as well as some other meanings of the word.
• Figurative and Frost : Examples of figurative language in the context of the poetry of Robert Frost.
• Figurative YouTube : A video identifying various forms of figurative language from movies and television shows.
• Wikipedia on literal and figurative language : A bit technical, but with a good list of examples.

• PDFs for all 136 Lit Terms we cover
• Downloads of 1929 LitCharts Lit Guides
• Teacher Editions for every Lit Guide
• Explanations and citation info for 40,694 quotes across 1929 books
• Downloadable (PDF) line-by-line translations of every Shakespeare play
• Alliteration
• Figure of Speech
• Onomatopoeia
• Personification
• Anachronism
• Colloquialism
• Rhetorical Question
• Flat Character
• Dramatic Irony
• Juxtaposition
• Bildungsroman
• Red Herring

Ace the Presentation

The 5 Different Types of Speech Styles

Human beings have different ways of communicating . No two people speak the same (and nor should they). In fact, if you’ve paid any attention to people’s speeches around you, you might have already noticed that they vary from speaker to speaker, according to the context. Those variations aren’t merely coincidental. 

The 5 Different Types of Speech Styles (Table)

Martin Joos, a famous german linguist and professor, was the first one to organize the speeches according to their variations, having come up with five speech styles, depending on their degree of formality: 

1. Frozen Style (or Fixed speech)

A speech style is characterized by the use of certain grammar and vocabulary particular to a certain field, one in which the speaker is inserted. The language in this speech style is very formal and static, making it one of the highest forms of speech styles. It’s usually done in a format where the speaker talks and the audience listens without actually being given the space to respond. 

Application: It’s generally reserved for formal settings such as important ceremonies (for instance, a ceremony at the royal palace or one in which a country’s president is present), weddings, funerals, etc. 

Examples: a presidential speech, an anthem, and a school creed.

2. Formal Style

This style, just like the previous one, is also characterized by a formal (agreed upon and even documented) vocabulary and choice of words, yet it’s more universal as it doesn’t necessarily require expertise in any field and it’s not as rigid as the frozen style. 

The language in this speech is respectful and rejects the use of slang, contractions, ellipses and qualifying modal adverbials. Oftentimes the speaker must plan the sentences before delivering them. 

Application: Although it’s often used in writing, it also applies to speaking, especially to medium to large-sized groups. It’s also the type of speech that should be used when communicating with strangers and others such as older people, elders, professionals, and figures of authority. 

Examples: meetings (corporate or other formal meetings), court, class, interview, speech, or presentation. 

3. Consultative Style 

The third level of communication it’s a style characterized by a semi-formal vocabulary, often unplanned and reliant on the listener ’s responses and overall participation. 

Application: any type of two-way communication, dialogue, whether between two people or more, where there’s no intimacy or any acquaintanceship. 

Examples: group discussions, teacher-student communication, expert-apprentice, communication between work colleagues or even between employer-employee, and talking to a stranger. 

4. Casual Style (or Informal Style) 

As the name says, this style is characterized by its casualty, with a flexible and informal vocabulary that may include slang. It’s usually unplanned, pretty relaxed, and reliant on the fluid back and forth between those involved, without any particular order. 

Application: used between people with a sense of familiarity and a relatively close relationship, whether in a group or in a one-on-one scenario.

Examples: chats with friends and family, casual phone calls, or text messages. 

5. Intimate Style

This is the speech style that’s reserved for people who have a really close connection. It’s casual and relaxed and goes beyond words, as it incorporates nonverbal communication and even personal language codes, such as terms of endearment and expressions whose meaning are only understood by the participants, besides slang. 

Application: used between people who share an intimate bond. 

Examples: chats between best friends, boyfriend and girlfriend, siblings and other family members, whether in messages, phone calls, or personally.  

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An Easy Guide to All 15 Types of Speech

4 factors that influence speech styles.

Although knowing the definition and some examples of situations in which each speech style might apply is helpful, there are four important factors that are key in speech styles. These factors help the speakers understand when it is appropriate to use one style instead of the other. They are: 

1. The Setting 

The setting is essentially the context in which the speech shall take place. It’s probably the most important factor to be considered when choosing which speech style to use as nothing could be more harmful than applying the wrong speech style to the wrong setting. 

Although it’s a factor that’s exhausted and diverse,  to make things simple for you, I’ve divided them in three main categories: 

• Formal Settings:  
• Casual Settings: 

In these settings, people are more relaxed and less uptight than in formal settings. Since there’s a degree of familiarity between those speaking, even though people are not necessarily intimate, the speaker can apply either consultative or casual speech styles. Some examples of these settings include weddings, company or team meetings, and school classes. 

• Informal Settings: 

These settings are more open than casual ones as there are almost no rules to how people should interact. Everyone in it either has a deep degree of familiarity or intimacy. The styles of speeches that are used in these settings are Casual and Intimate. A few examples of these settings are family and friends gatherings, private conversations, etc. 

Misreading the setting can be really embarrassing and have devastating consequences. If, for instance, you make inappropriate jokes in a work meeting or use slang words, you could be perceived as unprofessional and disrespectful, and that could cost you your job. 

2. The Participants  

Your audience, the people to whom your speech is directed, or the people you interact with are decisive factors when choosing your speech style. 

To put it simply: 

• Reserve Frozen and Formal styles for people whom you respect and are not intimate or even familiar with ,  either because of their position in society or because of their position in relation to you. These can be authority figures or even superiors in your workplace and strangers.
• Use Consultative and Casual speech styles with people who, even though they are familiar to you (either because you both know each other or interact often), still owe them a certain level of respect . These can be people in your workplace such as your colleagues and business partners, people in school, elders and older family members, neighbors, acquaintances and even strangers . 
• Feel free to use Intimate speech styles with anyone who you share an intimate bond with . These can be your friends and your immediate and extended family members .

3. The Topic 

Speech styles can give appropriate weight to serious topics, just as they can help alleviate the heaviness of certain topics. There’s no specific rule of which style to use with each topic, actually, when it comes to topics, the choice should be more intuitive and keep in mind the other factors. 

For example, sometimes, when making a presentation about a serious topic at a conference, you might want to mix formal speech with a more consultative or casual speech by sliding in a joke or two in between your presentation, as this helps lighten up the mood. 

4. The Purpose of The Discourse or Conversation 

The purpose of your discourse is your main motivation for speaking.  Just like with the topic, when it comes to choosing the speech style taking into account the purpose, the choice is mostly intuitive and keeps in mind the other factors. 

You should remember never to mix a business-centered discussion, where the purpose is mostly professional and formal, with a mainly informal speech of speaking. 

Speaker Styles

• Content-rich speaker:  

A content-rich speaker is one whose aim is to use the speech to inform. He is factual and very objective and focused on providing all the information the audience or receptor of the message needs.

A man speaking in a presentation could be an example of this, or even a lawyer defending a case in court. 

• Funny or humorous speakers:

As the name already suggests, this type of speaker uses humor as a tool to help them deliver their message. Even when delivering facts, they make jokes to lighten things up and break the tension. 

Stand-up comedians are a great example of this type of speaker. 

• Storyteller: 

This type of speaker usually relies on the story format to deliver his message; whether it’s factual or not is not relevant as long as the main message behind the story is relevant to the receptor. 

Usually, the type of speaker is not fixed in each speech style; one person can be many types of speakers depending on the speech style that they are using and keeping in mind the factors that influence the choice of the speech style. 

Make sure you weigh all factors equally before choosing a speech style. You don’t want to be THAT person bringing up an intimate subject to a friend in front of a group of strangers during a business meeting where the subject has nothing to do with whatever you’re talking about.

What’s The Importance of Speech Styles In Communication 

Using and knowing speech styles is the key to effective communication. Choosing the right way to communicate in different settings and with different people is what separates a good communicator from a bad communicator. 

Knowing the speech styles and the rules that apply to each of them saves you from embarrassment and positions you as someone of principles and respectful, especially in formal and conservative settings. 

Besides that, people tend to gravitate more towards and get influenced by good communicators; therefore, learning something new in that area and improving the quality of your speech and presentations will only benefit you. 

Further Readings

Speech Styles- ELCOMBLUS

Types of Speech Styles | PDF | Sentence (Linguistics) | Cognitive Science- SCRIBD

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The 9 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples

• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

A part of speech is a term used in traditional grammar for one of the nine main categories into which words are classified according to their functions in sentences, such as nouns or verbs. Also known as word classes, these are the building blocks of grammar.

Every sentence you write or speak in English includes words that fall into some of the nine parts of speech. These include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, articles/determiners, and interjections. (Some sources include only eight parts of speech and leave interjections in their own category.)

Parts of Speech

• Word types can be divided into nine parts of speech:
• prepositions
• conjunctions
• articles/determiners
• interjections
• Some words can be considered more than one part of speech, depending on context and usage.
• Interjections can form complete sentences on their own.

Learning the names of the parts of speech probably won't make you witty, healthy, wealthy, or wise. In fact, learning just the names of the parts of speech won't even make you a better writer. However, you will gain a basic understanding of sentence structure  and the  English language by familiarizing yourself with these labels.

Open and Closed Word Classes

The parts of speech are commonly divided into  open classes  (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) and  closed classes  (pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles/determiners, and interjections). Open classes can be altered and added to as language develops, and closed classes are pretty much set in stone. For example, new nouns are created every day, but conjunctions never change.

In contemporary linguistics , parts of speech are generally referred to as word classes or syntactic categories. The main difference is that word classes are classified according to more strict linguistic criteria. Within word classes, there is the lexical, or open class, and the function, or closed class.

The 9 Parts of Speech

Read about each part of speech below, and practice identifying each.

Nouns are a person, place, thing, or idea. They can take on a myriad of roles in a sentence, from the subject of it all to the object of an action. They are capitalized when they're the official name of something or someone, and they're called proper nouns in these cases. Examples: pirate, Caribbean, ship, freedom, Captain Jack Sparrow.

Pronouns stand in for nouns in a sentence . They are more generic versions of nouns that refer only to people. Examples:​  I, you, he, she, it, ours, them, who, which, anybody, ourselves.

Verbs are action words that tell what happens in a sentence. They can also show a sentence subject's state of being ( is , was ). Verbs change form based on tense (present, past) and count distinction (singular or plural). Examples:  sing, dance, believes, seemed, finish, eat, drink, be, became.

Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns. They specify which one, how much, what kind, and more. Adjectives allow readers and listeners to use their senses to imagine something more clearly. Examples:  hot, lazy, funny, unique, bright, beautiful, poor, smooth.

Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs. They specify when, where, how, and why something happened and to what extent or how often. Many adjectives can be turned into adjectives by adding the suffix - ly . Examples:  softly, quickly, lazily, often, only, hopefully, sometimes.

Preposition

Prepositions  show spatial, temporal, and role relations between a noun or pronoun and the other words in a sentence. They come at the start of a prepositional phrase , which contains a preposition and its object. Examples:  up, over, against, by, for, into, close to, out of, apart from.

Conjunction

Conjunctions join words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. There are coordinating, subordinating, and correlative conjunctions. Examples:  and, but, or, so, yet.

Articles and Determiners

Articles and determiners function like adjectives by modifying nouns, but they are different than adjectives in that they are necessary for a sentence to have proper syntax. Articles and determiners specify and identify nouns, and there are indefinite and definite articles. Examples of articles:  a, an, the ; examples of determiners:  these, that, those, enough, much, few, which, what.

Some traditional grammars have treated articles  as a distinct part of speech. Modern grammars, however, more often include articles in the category of determiners , which identify or quantify a noun. Even though they modify nouns like adjectives, articles are different in that they are essential to the proper syntax of a sentence, just as determiners are necessary to convey the meaning of a sentence, while adjectives are optional.

Interjection

Interjections are expressions that can stand on their own or be contained within sentences. These words and phrases often carry strong emotions and convey reactions. Examples:  ah, whoops, ouch, yabba dabba do!

How to Determine the Part of Speech

Only interjections ( Hooray! ) have a habit of standing alone; every other part of speech must be contained within a sentence and some are even required in sentences (nouns and verbs). Other parts of speech come in many varieties and may appear just about anywhere in a sentence.

To know for sure what part of speech a word falls into, look not only at the word itself but also at its meaning, position, and use in a sentence.

For example, in the first sentence below,  work  functions as a noun; in the second sentence, a verb; and in the third sentence, an adjective:

• Bosco showed up for  work  two hours late.
• The noun  work  is the thing Bosco shows up for.
• He will have to  work  until midnight.
• The verb  work  is the action he must perform.
• His  work  permit expires next month.
• The  attributive noun  (or converted adjective) work  modifies the noun  permit .

Learning the names and uses of the basic parts of speech is just one way to understand how sentences are constructed.

Dissecting Basic Sentences

To form a basic complete sentence, you only need two elements: a noun (or pronoun standing in for a noun) and a verb. The noun acts as a subject, and the verb, by telling what action the subject is taking, acts as the predicate. 

In the short sentence above,  birds  is the noun and  fly  is the verb. The sentence makes sense and gets the point across.

You can have a sentence with just one word without breaking any sentence formation rules. The short sentence below is complete because it's a verb command with an understood "you" noun.

Here, the pronoun, standing in for a noun, is implied and acts as the subject. The sentence is really saying, "(You) go!"

Constructing More Complex Sentences

Use more parts of speech to add additional information about what's happening in a sentence to make it more complex. Take the first sentence from above, for example, and incorporate more information about how and why birds fly.

• Birds fly when migrating before winter.

Birds and fly remain the noun and the verb, but now there is more description. 

When  is an adverb that modifies the verb fly.  The word before  is a little tricky because it can be either a conjunction, preposition, or adverb depending on the context. In this case, it's a preposition because it's followed by a noun. This preposition begins an adverbial phrase of time ( before winter ) that answers the question of when the birds migrate . Before is not a conjunction because it does not connect two clauses.

• Sentence Parts and Sentence Structures
• 100 Key Terms Used in the Study of Grammar
• Closed Class Words
• Prepositional Phrases in English Grammar
• Word Class in English Grammar
• The Top 25 Grammatical Terms
• Foundations of Grammar in Italian
• Open Class Words in English Grammar
• Pronoun Definition and Examples
• What Is an Adverb in English Grammar?
• Telegraphic Speech
• Definition and Examples of Adjectives
• What Are the Parts of a Prepositional Phrase?
• Definition and Examples of Function Words in English
• Sentence Patterns
• Lesson Plan: Label Sentences with Parts of Speech